Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Lot's wife killed for "looking back"

Genesis 19:1-17,24-26 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning."
"No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square."
But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."

Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof."

"Get out of our way," they replied. And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse than them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, "Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished."

When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!"

Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.


PERSONAL COMMENTARY

Is it disturbing to any of you that Lot offered his 2 virgin daughters to a mob for them to do whatever they wish to these innocent young ladies?

Do you believe that Lot's wife deserved to be killed for simply looking back? How many of you would look to see what was happening if fire and brimstone was being hailed down from the sky?

What I think is interesting is the fact that I sang songs in Sunday School about this woman meeting her death and being killed by God.

[Read Today's Reading in The Brick Testament - An Illustrated Bible]

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Once again, you miss the point. Lot's wife was not killed for looking back. She was killed for disobeying God.

Jason said...

Lot was a regular guy like the rest of us put into an extraordinary situation. I think what Lot did with his daughters was completely wrong...but that's about as far as anyone can go with it :)

Lot's wife didn't simply "look back": Luk 17:31-32 "In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife."

Lot's wife didn't turn around out of idle curiousity. she desired to go back to the city she was just taken out of. And as Anon said, the punishment was because she disobeyed God. Lot and his daughters didn't turn around so it wasn't like it was an impossible request.

Anonymous said...

Jason,

Very good points.

Anonymous said...

Yup. Jason and anon have got it right.

Humanity's biggest problem and hurdle with God is that it simply won't accept that there is Someone greater than ourselves and who has the ability to destroy us (AND love us).

We go bananas when we hear that there is Someone above us and that we have to obey that person. It drives us crazy. We rebel. We resist.

But my cat Max has me as his master. And I love him so much that when I think I've lost him somehow I cry from the deepest inner part of me. I never want to lose my kitty.

But he might not like his standing as a cat. It doesn't matter. He is a cat. My cat.

It may not be enough for him that I love him with all my heart, he is family to me... he might not be able to get past the "you're my pet" part.

It doesn't matter if he wants to be a human, he isn't. He's my cat. I make the laws which I decide are best for him. I decide when he gets fed and how much because I can see if he's fat or not (he can't). I lock him in at night to keep him safe (he obviously disagrees). I put a thing around his neck because the council will take him away if I don't (he doesn't understand that either).

I do these things because I love him. He doesn't see the logic and he doesn't like it. It really isn't his choice, it's mine. I'm the human.

Well... in this life and this world, GOD makes the rules. It doesn't really matter to what extent we don't like the rules, they are there for our good.

The good news is that He loves us even more than I love Max.

Many of us simply can't go beyond the "you're not God" issue, so we can't then see how much He loves us. We simply do not want to be his pet. Like the enemy, we want to be equal to Him.

We're not God. He is. It's really not more complicated than that.

If we will accept this truth, we can be welcomed into His family and we'll receive tremendous love from Him.

God bless you,
Mark.

Jason said...

Good analogy.

Anonymous said...

So if you disobey God you deserve to die. Wow. That's pretty vicious punishment, too. But I guess every parent with kids who disobey gets to get away with murder, eh?

Buy Generic Viagra said...

men definitely you take the thing to seriously, in first place Lot's wife don't die because she disobey God, God say "don't look back" this was a warning, and what happen when we don't attention to warning, we pay the concecuenses, is like I say you don't touch the candle flame is hot, you come and touch the flame, and what happen?

taliacr said...

Lots wife would have died and she was saved. Then she took advantage of that and disobeyed g-d, her savior. So, she was turned into a pillar of salt.

Avenging Angel said...

Good analogy, but I want you to destroy your cat for disobeying you. You clearly have given him a command, and he has disobeyed you. I wholeheartedly support God's decision to destroy the things which you are superior over.

Don't forget to tell him that you love him, and you love him more than he can understand. He may not understand you, because he's a cat, but do it anyway. Remember that your love for him is why you need kill him.

God Bless you (and destroy you for your transgressions, whatever they be and however minor they are. :D )

Anonymous said...

Is pillar of salt another way of saying she was frozen with fear?
Why not just say she was killed?

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